The head of Portugal's police federation has launched an astonishing attack on
Gerry and Kate McCann, accusing them of "hindering" the investigation
into their daughter's disappearance.
The attack came amid claims that strands of hair that could be Madeleine's had
been found behind a sofa in the family's apartment at the Ocean Club in Praia
da Luz.
The hair is being examined, along with blood samples found on a wall in the
apartment, by the Forensic Science Service in Birmingham for any traces which could prove
whether the missing four-year-old was drugged.
One of the theories apparently being examined by police is that Madeleine died
after being sedated by her parents, both 39-year-old doctors from Rothley,
Leics.
Police supposedly believe they may then have covered up the death by hiding the
body and moving it weeks later in their Renault hire car.
The hair sample was found close to where English sniffer dogs reportedly
detected blood and the "scent of death" in the apartment, and police
believe it may be "decisive", according to the Portuguese newspaper
Journal de Noticias.
The latest attack on the couple came from Carlos Anjos, the head of the
federation of criminal police, which represents officers from the Policia
Judiciaria investigating the case.
Mr Anjos added to the growing tension between the McCanns and the Portuguese
authorities, accusing them of using "diversion tactics" to distract
from the investigation and deliberately "hindering" the inquiry.
"Since their daughter disappeared, Gerry and Kate have followed a strategy
of almost daily announcements of new facts," he told the Diario de
Noticias. He claimed these "facts" were hindering the investigation.
He was also critical of what he called the "ridiculous episode" in
which Mr McCann feared he was in the same room as his daughter's abductor when
he checked on his three children on the evening of May 3, shortly before
Madeleine's disappearance.
Mr McCann had told a friend how he thought little at the time of a door that
was ajar - which he had previously believed closed - but said he had since
begun to realise his daughter's abductor could have been hiding there.
Mr Anjos, who has also been involved in the case, said: "If he was
suspicious that there was a man in the apartment, and then he calmly went to
dinner, then words cannot describe how negligent he is as a father."
Clarence Mitchell, the family's spokesman, said Mr McCann's realisation that he
had been in the same room as the abductor only came to him later and the
comments had been "totally misunderstood" by Mr Anjos.
"This was said in the original witness statement," Mr Mitchell said.
"There is nothing that has come out recently that should be of surprise to
the officers."
He added that the suggestion the couple were seeking to hinder the case was
"completely untrue".
"I would suggest the same goes for the sources in Portugal - but
far more so," he said. "There is no deliberate campaign to get in the
way of the police investigation. This has been done in a spirit of
co-operation."
Meanwhile, Mr McCann's mother, Eileen, dismissed claims about the DNA allegedly
found in the couple's hire car, telling the Belfast Telegraph: "Little
Amelie is wearing Madeleine's sandals and she is in and out of the car. Cuddly
toys are in it. It's nonsense." |
